Calorie advice.

[adamellisdj]

Hey all. Started my clean bulk a month ago today. I started at 18% bodyfat (yet at 169lbs, so couldn't safely cut at 29 years old and 6ft)

I wanted to put on 0.5lbs a week to miimallse fat gain as much as possible.

I set myfitness pal to sedentary due to not knowing my true activity level. Better to gain less than more in my first month.

It told me that I needed 2450 cals a day to put on 0.5lbs a week.

I play football once a week, gym 5 days (bigger leaner stronger 5 day routine focussing on mainly compound lifts) and do 2 / 3 x 30 min hiit or cycle cardio a week.

Get good rest and my diet is on point hitting 40, 30, 30 for my macros most days.

Eating only complex carbs and prepping my meals for accuracy.


Anyway I got my body scan back today.
Done by an Olympic Pysio here in Sheffield. He uses calipers for my bodyfat and his very expensive scales for weight and muscle mass.

Starting (6th Jan)

Weight - 169.5lbs
Bodyfat - 18%
Muscle mass - 128.75lbs
Water - 54 %



Today (6th Feb)

Weight - 170.4lbs
Bodyfat - 16%
Muscle mass - 129.19
Water - 53.9



So I've only put on less than half a lbs, yet added a tiny bit of muscle and lost body fat.

I didn't think you couod loose body fat while gaining weight ?

I guess my activity level is much higher than I thought (I do work from home on a chair all day to be fair) and I need to eat more.

What would you guys recommend upping too ? I was thinking 3000 a day for the next month and see how i get on. I'd like to put on 0.5 a week with as little fat as possible. I read on one of the stickies I should aim for no more than 3lbs a month weight gain for minimal fat.

That's 3 x what I put on this month and if we go by the 3500 cals is a pound theory, I need to eat 3450 a day to put on 3lbs a month.

Is this all seeming ok ? I kinda just want reassurance and or constructive advice as I'm working my ass of in the gym and on my diet.

Thanks in advance

[SuffolkPunch]

You don't have to use a ratio like 40 40 20 - it just makes meal planning harder. Simply hit your calorie target and meet (or exceed) your protein target (1.6g per kg of bodyweight). As long as you don't avoid dietary fat, you should easily meet the EFA target.

Carbs don't have to be complex. It's calories that matter - not simple vs. complex carbs.

Beware of bodyfat measures. Calipers could be easily 5 percentage points either side of the true value. The electrical impedence scales are even worse. If you are getting stronger then you are likely moving in the right direction but you can't track BF% and lean body mass with the accuracy your numbers above appear to offer.

Adjust your calorie count by trial and error until you are consistently gaining about 2-3lbs a month after accounting for the noise due to water weight changes.

[adamellisdj]

Thanks man

I often overthink haha. I'm getting stronger that's for sure.